


Angst Prompt Fills from LJ

by littlewonder



Category: Glee
Genre: Anonymity, Arguing, Breaking and Entering, Bullying, Computers, Drunken Shenanigans, First Kiss, Friendship, Groping, Homophobia, Homophobic Language, Internet, Intimidation, M/M, Morning After, Protectiveness, Reaction, Regret, Search History Deletion, Secrets, Six Billion Secrets, Social Media, Song Parody, Stakeout, Stalking, Threats of Violence, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-26
Updated: 2019-07-25
Packaged: 2020-07-19 23:56:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19982662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littlewonder/pseuds/littlewonder
Summary: A few fills I did back in the day over at glee_angst_memes on LJ.





	1. What's Coming To You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> originally posted to [LJ](https://littlewonder2.livejournal.com/27304.html)
> 
> Prompt (from pg.41): Karofsky and Kurt somehow bump into each other and start having an argument. They suddenly find themselves surrounded by a group of men who start jeering at them and throwing homophobic slurs at them, including the f-word, saying that they're going to get what's coming to them. Karofsky starts denying being gay. The men tell him to prove it by beating Kurt up. 
> 
> The thing is, Karofsky pushed Kurt into lockers, and threw him into dumpsters, but he can't bring himself to hit the boy. 
> 
> The men aren't pleased.

Karofsky and Kurt never found themselves anywhere near each other outside of school. So when Kurt spotted the bully somewhere out on the streets of Lima as he went to meet Mercedes at the mall, he didn't know how to react. There's no reason for Karofsky to be here, not reason to notice Kurt there, no reason to do anything at all in reaction if he really is just some average school bully and not some harasser.

But that was the thing. He had elements of being both. He was prejudiced, yet Kurt was enough of a target that bullies react to out of envy (or jealousy). Kurt was no random victim, but he was never attacked out of school, either.

There was a dividing line between the two, and Karofsky blurred them.

Kurt tried to sneak off, unnoticed. But even here, out in the open, he should have figured he wouldn't give Dave Karofsky the slip. "Hummel!"

Kurt closed his eyes with dread. Slowly, he turned around, looking up at his tormentor. "Hello, Karofsky," he said flatly.

"What the hell are you doing here? Can't I even be free from you on the weekend? I'm sick of looking at you all the time! And now I find you stalking me?"

Kurt was taken back, indignant and deeply offended by the accusation. "I assure you that I am as surprised as you are to bump into you like this. What's to say you weren't stalking me?"

"In your dreams, Hummel --"

"Dreams? More like my nightmares! Are you really as thick as you look, or are you just kidding yourself? I may be pretty self-important, but I must be nothing compared to you if that was really a serious accusation."

"I don't need to kid myself of anything concerning you. I just don't appreciate you coming and invading my space --"

"If I remember correctly, Karofsky," retorted Kurt, "you were the one who just chased me down. So if you have something to say to me, why don't come right out and say it?"

For a moment, Karofsky just glared at Kurt silently, radiating aggression. Kurt's confidence crumbled. They simply watched each other then. Kurt hardly seemed aware of Karofsky inching slowly closer until he was backing away from him. The whole situation felt rather awkward, as Kurt squirmed until Karofsky's gaze.

Suddenly, a jeer broke the air. Kurt looked over to see a group of men about 10 years older standing around the entrance of a closed pub, whooping and shouting slurs at him. Karofsky tried to join them until he realised that the insults were not intended for Kurt alone.

"I'm not gay!" Karofsky said. "I'm like you, I was just making fun of him!"

"You keep telling yourself that, fag," jeered one.

"You'll both get what's coming to you, you'll see," added another. "You and your boyfriend."

"I'm not gay!" Karofsky insisted, shouting.

"Yeah, sure," the third man, nearest to the pub door called. "Why don't you prove it? Let's see you beat him up!"

This was entirely different to Kurt's experience in school. 

In school, no one ever noticed him when bullies tormented him, unless he was suddenly smashed into lockers, and even that was short-lived. Yet these guys, who probably didn't know a thing about them in their real lives, had seen the way Karofsky had imposed on him and seen the truth that no one in McKinley in their daily lives had ever seen, even those people Kurt knew when they had only just walked away. They had seen, and they were clearly idiots.

At the men's suggestion, Kurt had looked at Karofsky, knowing what reply his tormentor would no doubt give. He saw Karofsky only beginning to raise his fist, and closed his eyes. He waited for the blow.

It never came. Warily, Kurt opened one eye. Karofsky's fist was raised high beside him, his arm in a high arch. But he hadn't punched Kurt. But why?

Suddenly, Kurt realised something. Through all his threats in school that Karofsky would beat him up, he'd never actually acted on any of it. He had once been backed into a corner with Azimio and Karofsky looming over him, but he had been saved by Finn and glee. He had been told by Karofsky himself that 'the Fury' would find him, after being told that that was the name that Gorilla had given to his fist. No one who goes so far as to name his fist ever just doesn't beat up people.

So what was his deal?

"Come on, faggot, do it!" cried one of the men. Kurt didn't see which one.

Kurt could see the pain on Karofsky's face. His eyes had begun sparkling with emotion. His lips slightly trembled. Then he shut his eyes to the world for a few moments before the taunts snapped them open again.

His fist unclenched as his arm dropped halfway down. But it was still hanging there, he was still hesitating. He still wanted to follow them.

"Come on!" one of the men cried, and the rest of them took on an increasingly aggressive attitude. "Give him what's coming to him!"

Karofsky's arm dropped completely. He was frozen on the spot, staring blankly terrified as they angrier. Kurt looked back at the men to find them moving towards them through the crowd. Suddenly, Karofsky took off at a run. Kurt left alone and exposed, chased after him, his only vague hope of safety.

The crowd held them off only slightly. Kurt was sure every second that they were catching up, but he had no time to look back and check. He didn't want to lose his balance.

He felt hopeless. Even if he managed to catch up to Karofsky, he was basically surrounded by enemies. It seemed to him that no matter what happened, those men would catch up and beat them both up. He would spend every minute delaying that moment as he could, but that was the only thing that occurred to him how it would end.

And if it came to that, it may as well happen with Karofsky. Even that was better than getting beat up by a group of strange men alone.

But when he was just a short range behind, Karofsky ducked into a music shop. "Karofsky, what--?"

He was silenced as Karofsky yanked him in and they ducked into the first aisle. It seemed like ages until Karofsky let him up again.

"What I just did, you got extremely lucky, Hummel. I wouldn't have done it if I thought I didn't have to. I don't care what you do right now, but I'm staying here until I'm sure they're gone."

"Really?" Kurt said flatly. "After everything that just happened, you're going back to your old self. Unbelievable."

"No, you know what's unbelievable? What's unbelievable is that I couldn't just do what they said. You might just be the luckiest kid in the world today. But that won't last, I'm gonna make sure of that."

"Why didn't you punch me?"

"Do you want me to?"

"No, but I also have to ask, because suddenly you don't seem so scary anymore. I saw how scared you were. I could see the internal battle in your eyes. What happened?"

"You must be dumb after all, if you think I'm answering that."

"Fine. Keep it to yourself. But thanks."

"Hey, are you boys going to buy anything, or are you just going to hide there?"

"I'm just looking," said Karofsky.

"Well, are you gay? Because I don't imagine a straight man would be looking at Celine Dion."

"What? Uh, no, that was my...friend here."

"Friend?" said Kurt. "I never knew you were so two-faced."

"So you're not friends?"

Kurt and Karofsky looked at each other. Maybe this was what came to Karofsky. A little unsettlement for all the times he made Kurt's life a living hell. If so, it was happening to Kurt too, if they got caught out there.

He got the feeling that this would be a dual threat from now on. For Karofsky, it was Karma. For Kurt, Fate.


	2. A Moment of Weakness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> originally posted to [LJ](https://littlewonder2.livejournal.com/27304.html)
> 
> Prompt (from pg.43): Kurt is at a party/bar/wherever, and someone spikes his drink with something and decides to take advantage of him. The specifics could be up to the author, but it could be something like this person is all over Kurt, trying to drag him out of the place, and Kurt is somewhat out of it but still trying to weakly say no/push him away. Some dub con is okay just for the angst of it, but I'd prefer anything that happens to be over the clothes.
> 
> Anyway, another Glee guy notices what's happening, and it can be either established relationship or just friendship at this point, and is pretty furious and stops it. Again, the level of how he stops it can be up to the author, whether he decks the guy or what. 
> 
> And then Kurt is pretty grateful and is loose with his inhibitions and wants to "thank" the guy, but the savior doesn't take advantage of him and lets him sleep it off. But then they can make out/etc. in the morning!
> 
> I'd prefer Blaine or Puck to be the one rescuing him, but it can really be any of his peers except Karofsky.
> 
> Mostly I just want Kurt, spiked drink, and someone saving him. The rest can be up to you!

Kurt isn't sure how many drinks he's had, but he's sure it can't have been this many. Kurt doesn't have a penchant for drinking heavily.

But a familiar face looms nearby, and it feels like a dream, because its not a welcome face, and everything feels so detached. But he doesn't see anyone else around, everything's a blur if he tries to look past Karofsky. And what is he even doing here, anyway?

Who's party was this? Hell, Kurt wouldn't bet he can even remember anyone else if he tried. It may as well have only been him and Karofsky in the room. Just what Kurt needed, a night with Karofsky.

But soon, it felt like Kurt's blood was rushing over him, and since the two of them were alone here, they may as well join each other's company. He never liked Karofsky really, but he was looking good right now. Even then, Kurt knew it was the liquor talking, but Karofsky was actually kind of cute.

Kurt felt Karofsky rub his thigh. He smiled weakly and reached for Karofsky's arm, falling just short. So he spread his legs and leaned in towards Karofsky for a kiss. He was taken instantly, and they kissed until Kurt was breathless several times over. His hand had travelled way further north.

"Hey!" a random voice cried. Soon, an asian male came into view. He looked familiar...

Mike. That was his name. Kurt couldn't remember much more than that.

Mike kept shouting at Karofsky. Kurt couldn't really focus on the words. He faded out of memory...

...and suddenly he came back in, and he was in Mike's lap, sleeping. Kurt felt hot, so he tried to grab Mike's thigh. Mike disappointed him.

The next morning, Kurt was glad for it. He remembered all this. He was humiliated. He was also glad it didn't too far.


	3. Public Secret

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> originally posted to [LJ](https://littlewonder2.livejournal.com/27008.html)
> 
> Prompt: Needing an outlet but not wanting to out Karofsky, Kurt post's the events of 2x06 on Six Billion Secrets.
> 
> Either:
> 
> Thoughts from random people reading it  
> and/or  
> Thoughts from Gleeks who read Six Billion Secrets (not knowing it's Kurt)  
> and/or  
> Thoughts from Karofsky as he reads/debates posting on Six Billion Secrets
> 
> Basically, the big secret posted on Six Billion Secrets

It was midnight. Kurt had just finished texting Mercedes that night and was lying awake in bed. He couldn't sleep. His mind was buzzing. Like so many times that day, he returned to that big secret. The one about Karofsky. The one about Karofsky kissing him.

And how could he keep that a secret? How could he not tell Mercedes, or any other of the friends that truly cared about him? How could avoid telling Finn, or his dad, or the school for that matter, when this was sexual abuse?

He rose up from his bed and walked over to his laptop, turning it on, logging in. He went online, straight to Six Billion Secrets. Maybe anonymously posting it online would help him sleep. These secrets could be posted by anyone, and he didn't have to give his name. No one would ever suspect, never mind his opinions about people who do that.

He clicked onto 'Submit a Secret'. He started writing.

"Today, I received my first kiss.

It wasn't right. It was by a bully who has long harassed me for being gay. Turns out he's a hypocrite. And a sexual harasser.

In the past few weeks the bullying had been getting worse and worse. It was really getting me down. Then I was given some advice that I really thought was good. Courage.

Now things are worse than ever."

He posted the secret.

Rachel sometimes liked to peruse the posts on Six Billion Secrets. It sometimes had some appropriate stories which she liked to post on her Twitter account. She liked to keep up her account, and linking out to SBS seemed a good excuse to post.

She found one that started out good, so could've been right up her alley, but then it got worse. She read it in horror. She felt bad for the guy. If she'd had her first kiss ruined like that, she didn't know how she'd have lived with it.

She decided to post it anyway. She made room and added her own personal message, cursing the limit on her post. Her personal message was, "We must band together in support".

Then she clicked on the comments button. No one had said anything yet. Well, it was only on the first page. Either way, it was the perfect opportunity to let herself be heard on the subject.

"How horrifying," she wrote. "I don't know how I'd ever bear it if that happened to me, but I do know that if I ever met you in real life, you would have my full support. All I can say to you is to stay strong. Hopefully, you have friends who can help you, but even if you don't, you should never give up. If this bully keeps it up, you might just have to talk to someone in authority to do something about it.

"And that someone's advice was not stupid. In fact, a lot of people would never have been so brave. You did the right thing, even if it turned out the wrong way. Stay strong. You'll be in my prayers."

The next afternoon she saw responses on her twitter. One was from Kurt. "This is a change in your usual routine. What made this one so special?"

"A first kiss is a very important event. You should know that, of all people."

Most others were more responsive. Although, there were the occasional few who were suspicious too. She checked back at Six Billion Secrets. The first kiss secret had moved to page three. She clicked the comments button. There were more comments posted.

One said, "I've been bullied before too. It was never this bad though, and I'm not gay. But I really feel for you, man." That could be any number of guys in glee, she thought. Or a complete stranger.

Another one agreed, adding, "I used be a popular jock, but now I get given heaps. Now I see some of the guys on my team all weird because of this. Why do I go on this site?" Rachel could just be imagining gleeks everywhere now, but she could just imagine Finn saying that.

When Mercedes read the secret, it felt oddly familiar. Besides the sexual abuse, she thought it sounded just like Kurt. But of course, neither Karofsky or Azimio had that in them. She had to make sure Kurt saw this, to show him just how much worse he could have it. She myspaced him.

He had seen it. Rachel had posted it on twitter a couple of days ago.

Kurt didn't seem much happier when she saw him next. She assumed he just felt bad for the kid who posted it. He and Kurt were so similar, he must've felt a connection to him.

Mercedes kept sending him supportive texts.

She also read the short list of comments on the secret. She did this straight before she had myspaced Kurt in the first place. The first one was obviously Rachel. She must've been the first one to discover the secret. All the others didn't really ring any bells, so she assumed the obvious, that they were strangers. That was okay. At least the kid was getting support.

Mercedes went on to twitter next. Kurt and Rachel had been arguing, as usual. She knew they were kind of friends, but she also knew that this was just how they were. Kurt had been interrogating her over the secret, but you could tell he still felt sorry for the guy who posted it.

Rachel couldn't. That figured.

Mercedes responded, backing up Kurt while still supporting the secret poster. Rachel caved when she checked back later. Mercedes smiled to herself.

Kurt responded to her texts shortly after. She asked him how he felt about the secret itself. They had a long texting session. Yep, Rachel was definitely wrong over Kurt.

The secret had gotten a better response than Kurt had expected. It turned out more gleeks must've known about and visited the site than he thought. Or it could just Rachel spreading the word. Yeah, that was far more likely.

Anyway, Mercedes always had his back, and she proved it by backing him up against Rachel on Twitter. Of course he wanted to appear to support the mystery kid who was secretly him, but he had to be suspicious (and yes, even paranoid) when he finds his secret, private and personal, posted all around twitter for all his friends to see.

But it did help that, deep down, he really was aching to tell them. The reason it was a secret in the first place came down to two reasons. The first was the humiliation he felt that Karofsky, of all people, was his first kiss, and that, beyond all his control, they were now involved some affair or other. Even if he didn't like the guy, and it was all just abusive.

The second was that, despite everything else he felt about the guy, Kurt himself was once in the closet himself, even if it was obvious to everyone else at the time and he knew probably was, anyway, even if he couldn't admit it out loud. Kurt knew it must be a million times worse for Karofsky though, and that despite the way that Gorilla treated him, he couldn't say a word about it for that reason.

Karofsky didn't deserve his sympathy, but by simple virtue of the fact that Kurt related to him in even such a small way, he had it. Inwardly, Kurt felt superior by the fact that he so graceful about it, and Karofsky was so aggressive.

Unfortunately, it didn't help when he was being shoved into the third locker of the day at school.

Finn never paid much attention to Rachel's story links. He never found them really interesting, but occasionally he would have to actually read them anyway, so she wouldn't cotton on to the fact that he didn't read them, generally.

The latest one he figured was a safe bet since others seemed to be talking about it too.

It was about some kid who was being bullied at school, and how recently the bullied kid had been kissed... It kinda reminded him of Kurt, just because of the way he used to act towards Finn himself. Not that he'd say that Kurt bullied him, but still.

According to the story, though, the kid was gay, so it couldn't have been that bad, right? I mean, if Kurt had tried to kiss him... Finn didn't want to think about it. But this kid was gay anyway, so what was the harm?

Finn thought it probably wasn't too important, since he doubted it was happening to anyone he knew. He didn't think Kurt could possibly be involved. If he did, he'd probably have thought he was over-thinking it, or jumping to conclusions. No, he assured himself, this had to be happening somewhere far away.

It had to.

He responded on twitter, because why else would he have read the post, if not to prove he'd read it? He wrote, "Wow, I feel sorry for whoever this is."

Rachel responded quickly. Finn supposed she was online, too. "You should do more than feel sorry for him, Finn," she wrote him. "We should support him!"

"Like, how? He must be miles away from us, who knows where?"

"By expressing your compassion in the comments and showing moral support, of course!"

"Wait, there's a comments page? Where, on twitter?"

"No," she wrote, "on the website. Haven't you been communicating with the other stories I've posted?"

He really screwed that one up. He asked her to remind him again, and she led him straight to a link he'd always overlooked before. Ohh, he thought. He clicked it.

Finn scrolled down the page. He spotted Rachel's post straight away, it was the very first one. Did she always do that? That would be very smart-ass of her if she did.

None of the others were familiar, though. That was obvious, because that never happened in real life anyway. Yes, the rest these people were probably just from around the country or overseas somewhere.

So, like he was told, he started to form a reply, though he had no idea what he was supposed to say. No matter what he said, it was really just words on a page. Nothing he said could possibly help this kid with his problems. At the end of the day, he'd still be a gay kid facing sexual abuse from his faceless tormentor.

Should he try to give the kid advice? Probably not, he wasn't very good at that, and he'd probably just screw things up even more for the kid.

Maybe he should just be straight with the kid, like Kurt's dad was with him. Speak from the heart.

So he wrote the message. "I know where you're coming from. Sort of. No offence to gay kids like you, but I once had one going after me. I'm not gay, so it was weird. I just wanted him to back off, but he didn't, until it all exploded in a massive fight.

Now he doesn't try anymore, but I've gotten to get to know him on a completely different level. And you know what? He's really cool.

I don't know how things between you and this other guy are like, but I can already tell its way worse, so I'm afraid there's nothing I can tell you. But hey, I get it. It sucks, and you're not gonna be able to see an easy way out. Just know I'm cheering on that everything works out for you like it did for me."

There was a button that said 'post as...' Finn clicked it, because he couldn't see any other buttons to press to submit the comment. A box popped up, asking for his name and email. Hoping they wouldn't publish the email address, he put it in, before he noticed that the name box had already filled itself in.

Shrugging, he submitted the comment.

Kurt now checked back often to see what new comments had sprung up. Although, it made no difference in his real life and problems (unless you counted Rachel's newfound activism in school against Karofsky, though she didn't realise she was helping the same person who she was activist about on twitter), it felt good to see all the support that people were showing him.

He spotted Finn's comment right away. He could practically hear Finn's voice as he read it, and he knew the events specified within it correlated between him and Finn.

Finn's words touched Kurt, and he appreciated the way Finn was straight with him and honest. That was, after all, one of the things he had come to learn of and like about Finn.

He decided to respond to him. He didn't know if Finn would see his response, or even come back to this page at all, but he hoped that whatever had brought him here in the first place would bring him back.

He wrote, "Thanks for the comment. I really appreciate your honesty.

"I'm afraid the bully in question is unlikely to stop at a mere argument, however. Honestly, I have no idea what would stop him. He's like a train on a track. He's unlikely to stop before he hits the damsel in distress.

"But I appreciate your cheering me on. And I appreciate having someone who at least sort of gets how it feels. No else seems to, sometimes. I know they care about me and everything, I get that. They just don't seem to understand the way they could."

He posted the comment and closed his computer. Now it was time to text Mercedes. He had something to talk to her about. He wanted to talk to her about the mysterious Six Million Secrets kid again. He knew she had been discussing him amongst some of the other girls, anyway. He had witnessed it.

"Hey, Kurt, can I go on the computer soon?"

Kurt looked up at Finn, who had asked the question. He looked back at the screen, where he was in the comments of his Six Billion Secrets post. He was almost finished anyway. "Yeah, sure," Kurt replied, looking back up at Finn. "Just give me a moment."

He was looking at the most recent comment, one that was unambiguously Blaine. Blaine, of course, was the only other person besides himself and Karofsky that actually knew the whole story, that Kurt was the poster, and that he had been talking about Karofsky.

"Sure, no worries," Kurt heard Finn say as he began to read the comment. Kurt saw Finn sit down nearby, though, out of the corner of his eye.

Blaine had tried to be subtle about his comment, which amused Kurt, he had tried to look as though he didn't know everything. He wasn't overly skilled at this however.

Blaine wrote, "I have a friend like this. You're not alone. And by the way, I'm sorry, but being brave is not a fault; its at least more than I ever was. You should be proud, no matter how it turned out. You should thank the person who gave you this advice, he must be highly noble. ;)

"I'm gay, and I had a similar experience to this. You're worth more than that, you really are. If you had simply continued to take it, it may have ended up for the worse anyway. And even if it didn't, its still a bad situation to be in day after day. So don't get down on yourself."

Kurt typed back a quick message. "That would have happened anyway. At least if I did nothing, I wouldn't have had my first kiss stolen from me. I appreciate your advice, but it doesn't do me much good. I never meant to insult you, but I'm in dire straights here, its not a matter of pride.

"I'm sorry. I really do appreciate your support." Kurt posted the comment and closed the window, then the screen, and handed over the computer to Finn.

Finn headed straight for the Six Billion Secrets website as Kurt moved into the next room. He navigated straight to the secret he'd been following, now back quite a few pages. He checked for a reply for his last message, just to see if the kid liked it.

He did, Finn was pretty sure. He thanked Finn, anyway.

He appreciated Finn's honesty, anyway, which was the main thing; that was what he was going for, after all. But it didn't help; Finn didn't think it would, much. At least he had someone he felt understood him, anyway.

Finn wrote a reply. "No worries, man," he wrote, "I know if that if it had been me, I'd probably appreciate that stuff too. It doesn't make things any easier, but I hope it makes the situation seem just a little bit lighter. Sorry I can't do more to help you out. If I could, I would. And I seriously mean that.

"If I knew you in real life, I'd probably offer to beat the guy up, I'm pretty strong. All you'd have to do would be to ask. But you're probably somewhere pretty far from Ohio. Too far to travel, anyway. It's a shame."

After he posted his reply, he scrolled up, just out of boredom, and found another comment. He read it. The guy sounded like he knew the kid. Finn might have even thought that he was the one who had given the kid the advice to stand up to the bully, and it was interesting to see some of the stuff behind it.

The kid had already replied to him (that was fast), and Finn was surprised to notice it was a little less positive than the comment he had directed at him. The kid didn't even know Finn, but he seemed to like him more than this other dude (a dude who was also gay), who he might even know in real life.

What had Finn said to make him like him that much? He guessed it was because Finn hadn't tried to give him advice which might not work out anyway, and instantly decided that giving people advice was overrated and risky.

He shrugged and closed the browser, calling Kurt back. Kurt returned to the room with his eyes glued to the phone, seeming to be texting someone. Finn sneaked a look and saw it was that Blaine kid he likes. "I only wanted to check something," Finn explained, looking at Kurt now. "All done now."

Kurt muttered a thank you and took the computer back.

Kurt didn't go straight back on the computer, just finished texting Blaine back. They were texting about the secret (Kurt would delete the texts later), because only Blaine knew, and that put him in a unique position to be able to discuss things openly with Kurt. The one downfall of talking to Blaine about it, though, was that Blaine could lean towards being opinionated and preachy.

Blaine was keeping an eye on the comments. Blaine texted back about a new comment that had just appeared, and Kurt turned back to his computer, looking it back up. A moment before he spotted it, Kurt got another text from Blaine. It seemed he had his own idea of who it was.

Kurt had told Blaine about some of kids from New Directions and his relation to them, and about his new family. Finn fell under both subjects. Kurt smiled to himself as he read the comment and realised Blaine was right. Both because Blaine was able to tell even without knowing the guy personally and because he now realised that that was probably what Finn had just been doing on Kurt's own computer.

Kurt texted Blaine back, telling him this, adding that he must be a good a judge of character and adding a smilie. Then he replied to the comment on the website.

Blaine texted back before Kurt was finished his reply. Kurt glimpsed at the message. 'I'm talking to you, aren't I? ;)'

Kurt smiled at the comment, and finished up typing on the internet before replying to Blaine. 'You must have style, too.'

He closed up his computer and moved into his room.

Besides all these anonymous comments whom he knew the writers of, there were many more of those he really didn't know. And definitely there was at least one that wasn't friendly.

Kurt and Blaine were still texting about them. And when Kurt saw one in particular, he seriously wanted to cry. He immediately called Blaine; this was way too serious to sum up in a simple text. He needed to hear a human voice, especially one who knew what he was dealing with.

"Kurt! Hi!" Blaine's voice chirped, surprised.

"Turn on Six Billion Secrets. Take a look at the latest comment on my secret."

"Really? Why didn't you text me about it?" Blaine asked, even while Kurt could hear the phone shifting around on the other side.

"You'll see. Just open it up."

Several moments passed, then he heard Blaine mutter, "oh my god... Kurt, are you serious?"

"Why would anyone say that, Blaine?"

"Well, just remember, whoever it is probably didn't know what they were doing, what kind of affect it would have. This is why people keep secrets in the first place, Kurt," Blaine assured him. "Believe me."

"The guy didn't even have the guts to let himself be known. I think whoever wrote that knew exactly what he was saying."

"Sounds like you have a pretty good idea who it could be," said Blaine.

"Yeah. But I don't really know."

"Well, who do you think it is?"

"Karofsky."

"Well, okay, let's think about this," said Blaine. "How likely is it that it was Karofsky who wrote this? I mean, I'm not saying he didn't, but how many other people are likely to have this sort of opinion? Some people just don't get it, they just follow their own twisted fantasies --"

"What kind of person would fantasise about something like this? It's sick. The very idea that I should just 'let it go' or 'suck it up' like it was nothing makes me sick. The idea that I should've liked it makes me hate anyone who would ever would say something so horrible. Doesn't it make you?"

"Well... I don't know. I suppose it is pretty personal; I mean, do I hate the people who forced me to transfer? Yes, of course I do. But people also do feel more passionate about things that affect them directly."

"You didn't answer my question," replied Kurt flatly.

"Yes, it does," replied Blaine. "But that doesn't mean others feel the same way."

"Really? Because it sounds like you don't blame them."

"Well -- really, I don't --"

"How could you say that!"

"--but! But, that's only because I know what its like too. At my old school, there was one specific guy who always blamed me for his own actions against me. I started to believe him. In fact, it got so bad that I tried to take his advice. But when I was told that if I was gay, my life was destined to be bad, that was when I realised how wrong that guy was."

There was a long silence on the phone, Kurt not knowing what to say, feeling guilty, registering the whole story, trying to sort out his opinion. In the end, there was only one thing he could say. "I'm sorry."

There was another, shorter silence. "Does this mean you relate to Karofsky?"

"Well," said Blaine, "no, not really. It's just that I understand what he might be feeling. There's a slight difference."

"What difference?" said Kurt. "It sounds like you relate to him pretty well."

"The difference is how you feel yourself. Just because I understand, doesn't mean I agree. And I don't, I swear to you, Kurt."

There was silence on the phone for what felt like a couple of minutes at least. "Okay..." Kurt finally said. "I believe you."

"So where is it again? I lost it... what did this Karofsky kid allegedly say?"

"Alright, listen to this:

"'What the hell are you complaining about? The guy sounds like a jock. You should count yourself lucky he even wanted to kiss you at all. Deep down, I bet you really liked it, didn't you'..."

Kurt couldn't go on. He was far too disgusted, and his speech was closing up. "Woah, woah, okay, you don't have to go on, I can just look it up," he heard Blaine say remotely on the other end of the line.

Kurt focused in on that voice, tried to act normal like he was before. Tried to listen and act like he always did. Blaine continued, "Don't worry about this, Kurt. If it is Karofsky, I'll find out about it. I'll take care of it, you'll see."

It was no use, it still felt far away, if only slightly less so. Instead, Kurt tried to focus on what Blaine was saying. "How would you do that?" he replied.

"Don't worry, I have my ways," said Blaine.

Blaine trailed Karofsky that afternoon after school. He had to leave his last class early, telling them it was a 'family emergency'. That was plausible enough for him that it didn't raise any eyebrows.

He drove to McKinley, humming to himself a song he made up himself, "Blaine...Blaine is a spy..." before turning on the radio at a low volume. He parked across the street as soon as he spotted Karofsky, turning the radio off.

Karofsky was waving goodbye to one of his jock friends, a black guy. Then he got in his pickup truck and pulled out. Carefully, Blaine followed him.

Karofsky took the back roads, the ones where few cars drove down, allowing Blaine to stay a while back. When Karofsky pulled in, Blaine pulled up a little behind him. Keeping low, he followed Karofsky with his eyes before moving around the house to find a subtler way in.

He could hear Karofsky banging around in the kitchen, and started to look for the computer. He found it in the office, behind a polished brown door, probably his father's. The computer was already logged on. Blaine went onto the internet and looked up History.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

Blaine looked up suddenly. Karofsky was standing there holding and bag of Doritos and salsa, and he was glaring hard at Blaine.

Blaine stood up straight. "Kurt got a pretty nasty comment online. We both think it was you. And as soon as I look back down at this computer, we'll find out, won't we?"

"Dude, you broke into my house just to find out if I posted some stupid comment?"

"That was not just 'some stupid comment'. You really hurt Kurt's feelings. He could hardly talk. You bullies have to learn that what you say and do have consequences, even if they're not to you."

"So, why should I care?" said Karofsky. "You know I could call the cops on you."

"You don't strike me as the type. You seem to type who would rather beat me up. After all, I'm no danger to you. You don't want to appear as an insecure whiner."

"You calling me insecure?" demanded Karofsky angrily.

"I'm saying your friends will think that."

"Well...so? I still could."

"You won't."

"Fine, maybe I won't, but I will if you show up here again! Then you'll be the one who looks bad, like you're stalking me!"

"But until then..."

"I'm gonna beat your ass! Get ready to meet the Fury!" Karofsky said, stomping forward. Blaine quickly looked at the computer's history and saw nothing even remotely entertaining, let alone Six Billion Secrets. A moment later, Karofsky punched him to the ground.

"Oh my god, Blaine, what happened to your face?" Kurt said the first time he saw Blaine after the confrontation.

"Karofsky," Blaine simply said.

"What do you mean? What happened?"

"I snuck into his house, broke onto his computer..." Blaine admitted, resigned.

"What? Why would you do that?"

"I really care about you, Kurt. Really. I just had to know if it was Karofsky who had said that. I couldn't let him get away with it. It was worth the risk."

"Are you kidding me? It wasn't even him! How is that 'worth the risk'?"

"Because if it had been, I could've gotten back up. Finn, at least."

"But it wasn't, Blaine," said Kurt. "It wasn't."

A few moments passed in silence. "It still could be," said Blaine suddenly.

"Oh, please Blaine, not this again..."

"No, hear me out. That computer I went to -- listen, Kurt!" Kurt was already trying to stop him, "--it was in what appeared to be his father's office."

"Oh, Blaine..."

"--And its History was full of adult sites, like banks and stuff. There were one or two exceptions--"

"So Karofsky doesn't go online a lot," said Kurt.

"Oh yeah? I'll bet he does. What teenager doesn't? I'll prove you wrong, Kurt."

"And then what? Break in to his house again? You could get into real trouble this time!"

"Someone else... someone else will do it. I can't be the only one to care for you, Kurt. You have a whole glee club full of friends."

"This is too much, Blaine. It's too much..."

Google is a wonderful thing, Blaine thought as he typed in the search engine to look for Karofsky's online presence. He's googled people before, often finding their facebooks in the process, and that's just what he plans on doing with Karofsky.

Karofsky's facebook was therefore the first place to go. Karofsky had around 100 friends, about the average for a teenager on facebook. He also had a fair amount of activity. If he was doing this much, it surely would've shown up in the History.

"Not if he'd deleted it," Kurt had told him earlier. Blaine was working on the assumption that he hadn't.

Blaine went back to google. Karofsky had several other presences, starting with twitter, moving through facebook and even extending to trolling smaller sites.

So why had none of this appeared on his history? Still, he had the proof to show Kurt that he did go online a lot.

So now what?

"Break into Karofsky's house, are you insane?"

"Come on, I need you to do it, if not for me, then for Kurt."

"What does Kurt have to do with it?" asked Finn.

"He's really invested in this kid, he kind of relates to him. You ought to get that, right? You relate to Kurt's dad."

"Well, yeah, but I wouldn't break into someone's house because of it. Don't you think that's crossing some line?"

"You're strong, you can fend him off," said Blaine.

"Uh, yeah, well so is he. And besides which, he could call the cops on me if he caught me, which he would!"

"Oh yeah, forgot about that..." Blaine looked down, thinking.

"Why don't you just do it?" asked Finn.

Blaine remained coolly looking down, thoughtfully. "No, can't be me, I already did that once, its too risky to try again."

"Dude, you went in once? You got to be freaking kidding me!"

Blaine looked up at Finn. "I've got to lure him out. You can help me."

"This is insane..."

"I agree with Finn, Blaine, why are you doing this?"

"See! Even Kurt doesn't agree with this!"

Blaine looked between Finn and Kurt, and continued pacing. He stopped again, and looked directly at Kurt.

"This isn't like you," Kurt told him. "You were always more scared than this. I know I wanted you to learn to braver, but not like this..."

"I'm doing this for you, Kurt. Both to protect you and..."

"What?" said Kurt.

Blaine breathed deeply, preparing himself. "To prove to myself that I'm worthy of you. You're so beautiful, inside and out. I just want to be that too."

"Oh, Blaine, you don't have to do this, you already are... Besides, I would never do this. You've got to admit that at least."

"I know... But I have to. I just can't deal with the fact that someone would... I have to do this. For both of us."

"Well, dude, you got a plan?" asked Finn. "Count me in."

Finn went up to Karofsky's house and rang the doorbell. A moment later, he knocked. "Hey, Karofsky! We got a score to settle! Get out here, unless you're a coward!"

The door was answered by Karofsky's dad. "Oh, uh, hi, Mr Karofsky," said Finn.

"You're Kurt Hummel's brother. What issue do you have with my son?"

"Oh, uh, that? That was...that was nothing..."

"Are you sure? 'Cause I can get him for you. We can sort all this ugly business out right now."

"Like -- all of us? Uh, how?...Yeah, go get him," said Finn.

"I'll be right back," said Karofsky's father. "You wait here."

Karofsky was in his room when his dad came for him. "David," he said. "Get off that computer and come to the front door. Some kid from school wants to have a little talk with you."

"A kid from school? Who the hell is it?"

"I didn't catch his name. And don't swear."

"Fine," Karofsky explained, getting up off the bed and leaving his laptop. Blaine watched hidden while he watched the two Karofsky's head to the front door. Quickly and quietly, he snuck light-footed to the room they had just left.

There it was, on Karofsky's filthy bed. Hesitantly, Blaine hopped on the bed and took access to the computer. He checked the history. There was a long history here, and that was only for today. He had to check all the Six Billion Secrets items to see if that was it.

Finally he found it, several days back. He texted Kurt one word to tell him, "Yes". They had agreed on that word. Then he reset the computer as it had been and fled to the back of the house. He snuck up along the side of the house again and signalled Finn the same thing as he had to get in, and waited.

But they were deep in conversation. Finn couldn't stop it, and Blaine could hear it was pretty serious. So Blaine had to jump the fence and escape someone else's lawn.

"So how did it go?" asked Kurt.

"Besides Finn going on and on with Karofsky and Karofsky, and I had to find another escape? Pretty good," answered Blaine.

"Hey, its not my fault! That stuff got pretty serious..."

"So I heard."

"Hey, guys, what're you talking about?" Burt asked as he came into the room.

Blaine had just come over to Kurt and Finn's house, and they were all sitting around in the living room.

"Oh, nothing, we were just...talking about glee," said Finn.

"Oh, alright, well don't mind me, I was just coming in for a sandwich."

So the three of them talked about glee until Burt left. "Seriously, guys, what was the verdict? Was it Karofsky?"

Blaine sighed. "Yeah, it was."

"That bastard! He is not getting away with this!"

"Calm down Finn, do you want dad to hear y--"

"Hey, what's going on in here?" Burt was back.

"Never mind..."

"Uh, Finn just found out that Karofsky's trying to push him out of the football team," Blaine saved.

"I thought you were talking about glee?"

"Yeah, well, we were. This is just related. You know, because they're both extracurricular."

"Well, Finn, you're the quarterback, so I don't think you have much to worry about. But, you know, if he is, you just push him right back, show him who's boss. He should back off."

"Thanks," said Finn.

Finn push Karofsky back against the lockers. "Hey, you think you're being funny, do you?"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about you posting shit on the internet! Some gay kid on Six Billion Secrets. Just because you hate all those people, doesn't give you the right to torment them!"

"Why should you care? It's not like its Hummel."

"So, what, everyone else just don't matter?"

"No, they don't, not as far as you're concerned. No one just defends people they don't know. Do you have some delusion about that kid being your gay brother?" retorted Karofsky, smirking.

"No! I don't, I..." But then it hit him. He had been imagining all this time that kid being Kurt. How could he not? The two were so similar after all. Karofsky was right.

On the other hand, it was that image that allowed him to stand up for a stranger. It was making him better. What was wrong with that?

"Yeah, so what? Either way, you're the asshole, not me. So I totally stand by defending that kid. Even if he's not Kurt, my brother still took offence at that. So screw you Karofsky!"

After that, it was all-out war in the comments of that secret. Although the secret itself was going back pages and pages, the arguments just got more and more frequent.

And it didn't stop there. Finn and Karofsky fought in the hallways too. But no matter how Blaine and Kurt tried to stop it, neither would slow down.

"I'm really sorry about this Kurt. I thought I was doing the right thing, but it just made things worse. Things have just gotten out of control, and its all my fault. I was too headstrong for my own good."

"You were only trying to help me. I understand, Blaine," said Kurt, touching Blaine's hand.

"So how do we fix this?"

"I don't know. Just wait it out I guess. You know, I'm not perfect either, Blaine. I should never have posted that secret. Its my fault too."

"Oh, Kurt, it is not your fault."

"Then its not yours either. You're not the only one with faults. We're going to share the blame, Blaine, okay?"

"Okay," said Blaine. He flipped his hand over and held Kurt's. "Deal."

Kurt decided there was one way left to fix this. He would have to address them both in the comments. It was a long shot, but it was worth a try.

To Finn, he wrote, "I understand and appreciate why you would try to protect me. But you don't even know me, and perhaps you're taking this a little personally. But whatever your reasons, warring against this jerk, even if he's said horrible things about me, is not helping. Please try to back off a little."

"And you," he wrote to Karofsky, "you ought to be ashamed of yourself. You should probably take a look in the mirror. Just because you find pleasure in your sick little fantasies, doesn't mean the rest of us share your perversion. You ought to keep them to yourself, because words like that can hurt almost as much as that stolen first kiss that violated me.

"Think before you talk. You would absolutely not say such things to my face, so don't tell them to me here. What if your friends and family found out? How would they think of you then?"

He closed off the comment with, "I posted that secret to get something of my chest. I couldn't sleep at night, and I just wanted to lighten the load. You two are turning that gift into a curse. If you continue like this, you'll only make me worse. And I know for one of you, that's the opposite of what you want, and for the other that's exactly what you are, so please stop. Now."

He posted the comment, exited the internet, closed his laptop and walked away. He didn't want to look at it right now.

The next time Finn saw him, he hugged him and apologised, explaining what Kurt already knew, about the comment on Six Billion Secrets, and promised to back off. The next Kurt saw Karofsky, his bully was glaring weakly at him, but there was the hint of something else there too...guilt?

No, Kurt was dreaming, not guilt. More like...pain. That was it. It was a pained expression. The last time he'd seen a look like that was after the kiss, after Kurt had pushed him away. But this time, it was just better disguised, behind a glare. Clearly, though, not disguised enough.

Suddenly, the look was gone, in the same moment Karofsky suddenly stood up straight, and now it was just a glare. He walked on, leaving Kurt there, in wonder.

After all, this was the same person who had said worse things, much worse things, than he had immediately read out-loud to Blaine, and had continued to say such things directly to him. And Kurt knew that Karofsky knew what he was doing. And now he was looking at Kurt hurt. It didn't make much sense to him.

Of course, both of them had something left to say on the comments, but Kurt didn't see them until months later, after prom, after the bullywhips. After that comment he posted, he just lost all interest in the comments at Six Billion Secrets. It made him feel too sick to want to look at again. But now he did, because he thought he understood Karofsky a little better now, if only slightly, and he was curious. Had Karofsky ever responded?

He had, and not with his usual disgusting tone, either. Both he and Finn had something to say, but they had been two of the last, because it had been around that time that interest was shifting from Kurt's secret to something else. That's trends for you, even for things as personal and private as secrets.

Knowing that some people like to talk to strangers because there's no judgement, that people even offer their emails for such a purpose, it was interesting for Kurt to look back on. And he was also thankful he didn't have much more of it to read than before.

Finn basically spent his comment apologising, and trying to explain himself, feeling guilty. Karofsky's comment, the one that he'd really come for after he read Finn's, was more interesting.

Karofsky said in his comment, "You don't know me. How do you know what I would say to your face? How would you know if my friends and family know or not? You're just some kid.

"I'll tell you what. Maybe you should understand more about you before you judge me. If you really understood yourself, maybe you'd see what you're hiding, rather than trying to fix me. Maybe you should post your real secret; that deep down, that kiss really meant something to you, because deep down, you liked it, didn't you?

"So yeah. Maybe I'm in denial about some things. But I'd bet I'm not nearly as bad as you. You still don't realise, do you? This sort of thing happens all the time. People get the hots for people they hate, they hate themselves for it. You might be one of those, if you look deep enough."

The fact that Karofsky first says Kurt doesn't know him, and then proceeds to act as if he knows about Kurt is enough of a hypocrisy to make him want to argue back; probably the whole point. As much as Kurt wanted to avoid replying for that precise reason, not to mention the fact even if he did, Karofsky wouldn't see it, it was the same urge to forced him to post the secret that lead Kurt to argue back.

"Don't you dare tell me what's 'deep inside' me and then tell me I don't know you. I know you're only trying to start an argument, but I can also tell you're still trying to project your fantasies on me too, and you could not be more wrong.

"You're as headstrong as you are ignorant, and that is saying something. You're also as cowardly."

Kurt meant it as a challenge, and he knew Karofsky would see it that way too. He didn't want to tip off to anyone else who still may be reading, and if one of those was Karofsky (by some odd twist of fate), then who was Kurt to stop him?

But even if he wasn't, Kurt would find some way to bring it up. In private, hopefully. He still had the bullywhips protecting him sometimes. If Karofsky didn't step up to Kurt first, then Kurt would.

And there were a number of times when Karofsky was around, dressed in that embarrassing outfit and protecting him, that Kurt thought he was about to say something, that Kurt thought he was really about to bring it up, and then he didn't. After awhile, Karofsky really didn't try anymore, if he ever was before.

"Karofsky, I need to talk about something."

"What?"

"I know you know about the secret I posted on Six Billion Secrets. The one about...when you kissed me," Kurt said, at first firmly, then in an increasingly low voice. 

Karofsky looked around cautiously. "I don't know what you're talking about," he said in an equally low voice.

"You used to post in the comments. I even replied to the last one. We need to talk about it."

"No, we don't," said Karofsky. "Its in the past."

But Karofsky did respond to it; Kurt double checked later. They never talked about it face to face, Kurt never could persuade Karofsky to. They talked about it in the comments, even if they were the only ones there now.

The trend was long over, but that didn't mean the two most deeply affected by it weren't still. Even trends can have meaning, sometimes, if only to the select few.

Karofsky could never say it out loud, could never admit what was truly happening. But Kurt knew. And he took advantage of the one form of media that he could get anything out of Karofsky with.

So Kurt talked about it. He even managed to ply from Karofsky the truth. It made no difference.


End file.
